The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1887-07-13
PEACE ON EARTH.
The Shining Example of the Republic
Thoughts on a June Sunday.
JENNY JUNE.

IL 10 tiO ittob oitlbdf Ill JAtiiGs all a lSittt
behind, or rather a day behind with my
letter, and / must utilize this lovely Sunday
morning to fill the hiatus and cover a GER
tain number of blank sheets with words that
are SD simple, yet capable of being such very
varied expressions of thought.
Sundays in June are acquiring signifi-
sance for me. They have so often been
marked with a white stone in my life. My
first days in the White mountains, in Ger
many, in the Black Forest, among the Eng
fish lakes, were all Sundays in June, and
they were all lovely, bright, yet peaceful
days that rest like jewels without flaw in
the memory. The quiet of Sunday in June
In great city is even more remarkable than
this quiet in the country, because it is CON
trasted with the incessant roar and activity
of the week days. ] remember so many
June Sundays in New York, when the whole
great city seemed to have been swept and
garnished, and lay peaceful and smiling
under the eye of God"
Last Sunday | was in Boston, and
he only outward disturbance of the calm
snd peace that should reign ON that day was
the pleasant hustle and activity incident to
the presence and entertainment of the boys
in gray the Southern Confederate soldiers
who were being treated Hospitality by the
Massachusetts, "boys in blue" This was
beautiful and inspiring element in a June
Sunday, and it made me reflect if, in spite of
all the agitation, all the noise and fury of
people who make business of creating
commotion we were not truly tending
toward peace on earth"
The night before l had sat beside the
mayor of Boston, Mr.. 0'Brien, at a wo-
mans dinner, where there was neither
wine nor tobacco, and found a broad, lib
eral-minded man; standing certainly six
let in his stockings, capable of seeing more
than one side to a question and willing to
give as well as take chances. He had been,
was told, elected by the Democrats in the
irst place. but had proved so good a mayor
that he was reelected by Democrats and In
dependent Republicans alike. This speaks
well for all round, the mayor and those who
elected him.
II is always more satisfactory to find peace
among those whom you know can fight
than among those whom you are NOR
ally certain could only bluster and
run away or among those who are sim
ply cowardly, and tremble at both fighting
and buster. The latter quality is quite con-
fined to cerulin class of men, and it only
imposes upon the ignorant and the weak. A
clustering man is harmless if no one takes
any notice of him. He explodes, and that
is the end of him for the time. His violence
is the protest of the little manhood there is
in him against his own feebleness and is
destitute of real strength or purpose. But it
makes him disagreeable, and to a certain ex-
fRt III %h PlRc asaye nd
struction is born and thrives.
0neof the greatest examples that this world
has ever seen is in the conduct of our people
since the civil war. That war was forced
upon the North because certain leaders of
public opinion at the South did not see that
the time had come when the great fact of
worldwide humanity must be accepted, and
property in human beings could no longer
be tolerated. Had they recognized this and
proposed or accepted some plan of gradual
release from such irreconcilabe condition
the civil war could have been averted. But
we had not yet attained that universally of
'isdom which must precede peace The war
became necessity and the experience n les.
son. 1t was the subsequent courage
Gus behavior on both Sides the wise
magnanimity and the good sense which went
directlyto work to repair the mischief caused
by so frightfu thing as modern warfare,
that was worthy Of praise and emulation.
War is mischievous in many more ways
than one--it makes business of fighting.
1t crowns it with an heroic halo--it grows,
like everything else, with what it feeds
upon, and suggests eternal reasons for con-
tinuation in the glory of conquest and the
acquisition of power Fighting nations
have become so by being always engaged in
strife with some other nation and fighters
die out, or turn their energies in some other
direction, If there is no one to fight with.
America could easily, after the war have
become bulldozing, fighting nation. There
was plenty of pressure brought to bear to
Keep the large armies in the field by those
whose occupation and importance would go
With dismcmberment and who had no inci-
nation to go back to private life and settled
work. All subtle and selfish arguments were
used, all appeals made in Congress and
through the press TO revive old hatretls, to
stimulate the lust of power, TO awaken desire
and excite a popular demand for conquest
and usurpation, as employments for tho
forces which had been trained for the field
But wiser councils prevailed The armies
did disband, and the men went their several
ways. They took up again the struggle of
individual life, for themselves and those who
were dependent upon them. Some Northern
men, in love with the SUMMER skies. re-
manned at the South and built up industries
where had formerly been bloodshed. Some
Southern men, and women too, came North, |
and gradually imbibed fraternal feeling,
while sharing common cot and finding |
common grounds of fellowship among those
whom they had considered foes.
The great thing was that the war was
taken up as piece of work that had to be
done and laid down when it was finished,
the energies that had been put into it seek
ing at once more natural and normal fields for
exercise, and so quickening the work of
restoration that the results are a marvel TO
the rest of the civilized world. This is a
peace to be proud of. American soldiers
were twice conquerors. They conquered
peace and they conquered the ambition and
;crovocation to continued war. Men do not
usually respect the efforts of women toward
peace, because they are not found among
she fighters. But it required more courage
IN the part of many a woman to stav
and her little ones than to march to
martial music and flying colors to
scene of possible conflict. There is every
reason why women should work for peace I
the mother instinct; the natural spirit of {
they usually do except
when impelled by principle, and then they
are the most determined of foes 1t is a ,
blessed thing that the instincts of women are
Tor peace, for peace is the basis of prosperity:
and that they are not inconsistent with
patriotic impulse and aspiration is evident
Tom the work of Mrs Julia Ward Howe. 7
who founded the Peace Society in this :
country, established Mothers Peace Day.n
20 be kept annually in June, yet wrote the !
battle hymn of the republic, which has
been the inspiration of many a patriotic !
SOU That women have always had this :
Wise leaning toward peace is evident also.